Looking for li ion charger deals and sales on good quality chargers

[Bort]

@flydiver

5579 posts and you have no idea what a decent charger might be?

I was hoping people might post some sales, i have not kept up on the last year of new charger releases.

I had a generic chinese charger from intl outdoor (broken, charged to 4.15V), an ML 102 (4.11V) that does not work well after a few hundred uses (now takes 6 hours to charge a 2200mAh battery at 1A charge rate so i don’t use it anymore), and an ML 101 that charges to 4.05V.

[hank]

Remember you have to allow for “plus or minus” — and that’s true of the readings in the charger, in the battery, and in your voltmeter(s).

[hank]

Remember you have to allow for “plus or minus” — and that’s true of the readings in the charger, in the battery, and in your voltmeter(s).

As I understand it, “4.2v” is not a target, it’s not a goal, it’s not a finish line — it’s the white line where the pavement turns into weeds, or sand, or a ditch. It’s the edge of trouble, the “go no farther” mark.

Someone who knows more will correct me.

[Bort]

@hank

Remember you have to allow for “plus or minus” — and that’s true of the readings in the charger, in the battery, and in your voltmeter(s).

As I understand it, “4.2v” is not a target, it’s not a goal, it’s not a finish line — it’s the white line where the pavement turns into weeds, or sand, or a ditch. It’s the edge of trouble, the “go no farther” mark.

Someone who knows more will correct me.

I don’t need poetics, i need fully charged batteries.

I changed the title due to the confusion caused

[zoom_zoom]

I had that problem with a charger, the batteries would rest 4.14-4.17 after being pulled off, I bought a liitokala charger and love it, they usually rest 4.19-4.2v I wish it would overcharge them so I could get 4.23-4.25 like the cheap ones do. somebody else might care about manufacturers specs but to me in everything I do they're more like guidelines saying don't overdo it too much more. They always recommend the maximum safe working load limit, but really you can go above and beyond what they recommend 99% of the time.

[tatasal]

@Bort

@hank

Remember you have to allow for “plus or minus” — and that’s true of the readings in the charger, in the battery, and in your voltmeter(s).

As I understand it, “4.2v” is not a target, it’s not a goal, it’s not a finish line — it’s the white line where the pavement turns into weeds, or sand, or a ditch. It’s the edge of trouble, the “go no farther” mark.

Someone who knows more will correct me.

I don’t need poetics, i need fully charged batteries.

I changed the title due to the confusion caused

If you look at a discharge test I did in the link below, the resting voltage when the tests were done was 4.14/4.15V, yet the cells got just a wee bit more than its stated capacity. In other words, I personally would not worry about not attaining the proverbial 4.20V at all.

Discharge Capacity Tests on Soshine 18650 2900mAh Protected, cells courtesy of Louis Huang of T-mart. NCR-PF/Soshine graph added

Hello Guys, This all started when T-mart advertised an Ultrafire 4000mAh 18650 cell. I dared Louis Huang of Tmart if indeed there is one, telling him I’d like to test one in my iCharger to find out once and for all if indeed there is a 4000mAh cell. Instead, he offered to me to try this: http://www.tmart.com/2pcs-Soshine-18650-2900mAh-3.7V-4.2V-PCB-Protective-Li-ion-Rechargeable-Batteries-Black_p161833.html Well, I accepted his offer and he sent me a pair to try a “discharge-capacity” test. T…

[raccoon]

@tatasal

I personally would not worry about not attaining the proverbial 4.20V at all.

B-But...

0:)

[tatasal]

Hahahaha, well……do me some shotgun!

Flower Power is alive and well

[Ronin42]

@zoom zoom

I bought a liitokala charger and love it, they usually rest 4.19-4.2v

The LiitoKala

260
or
300
for
$20

You cant beat the deal + it has “a” internal resistance measure, Theycall it mR not iR but it will still give you a reference number that you can use to compare cells with.

Test/Review of Charger LiitoKala Engineer 300

Charger LiitoKala Engineer 300 [image] [image] [image] LiitoKala started by making a analyzing LiIon charger (Engineer 260) that was fairly useful, but had a problem with long cell and the ohm reading. This is an updated version of the charger that can handle longer cells, works with both LiIon and NiMH and has a USB power bank function. How well did the update go? [image] It arrived in a nondescript cardboard box. [image] In the box is the charger, a power supply, car adapt…

[Bort]

@raccoon city

@tatasal

I personally would not worry about not attaining the proverbial 4.20V at all.

B-But…

0:)

I LOLed
It sounds like the marijuana consortium foresaw the voltage requirement of our battery gods.

[Bort]

@Ronin42

@zoom zoom

I bought a liitokala charger and love it, they usually rest 4.19-4.2v

The LiitoKala

260
or
300
for
$20

You cant beat the deal + it has “a” internal resistance measure, Theycall it mR to iR but it will still give you a reference number that you can use to compare cells with.

Test/Review of Charger LiitoKala Engineer 300

Where sells it at the best price?

[Ronin42]

I found mine on eBay.

Google-fu

liito (“glide”) +‎ kala (“fish”)

[HKJ]

@gauss163

@HKJ

The 4.2 volt is only present when the charger is charging, when it stops charging or you remove the battery the voltage will be lower or you have overcharged the battery.

Not necessarily. It depends on the termination current (among other parameters). If the charger terminates at very low current and the cell is healthy then the resting voltage may well remain equal to the end of charge voltage (but at the cost of a longer charge cycle).

Very low termination current is usual outside the specifications for LiIon cells.

And the voltage after termination will never be the same as the charge voltage, it will be lower (You just need more digits on your DMM) .

[DanielM]

Over 5000 posts, Bort you should be the charger master. I’ll bet you could write the Book Of Chargers. There was some other guy who also had a lot of posts and he was looking for a single 18650 flashlight. Really? If people are having difficulties finding flashlights and chargers in a very active flashlight forum, they’re doing it wrong. My ¢2.

[Ronin42]

Maybe he is just trying to get out Boat I mean Goat err Bort… Ah the heck with it.

[cajampa]

@zoom zoom

I wish it would overcharge them so I could get 4.23-4.25 like the cheap ones do. somebody else might care about manufacturers specs but to me in everything I do they’re more like guidelines saying don’t overdo it too much more. They always recommend the maximum safe working load limit, but really you can go above and beyond what they recommend 99% of the time.

+1

The only thing that happen, as far as i know is you lose half the rated cycles.

I like to charge my batteries to 4.25v sometimes, it makes them SO much stronger the first 10 or so seconds in a DD build.

I just wish i could find a charger that would do it reliably & a bit quicker, now i use a bugged miller v7 to do it, but it takes 6 hours to get from 4.20 to 4.25v.
This charger charges at 20mA from 4.20 to 4.25v, and the battery usually rest at 4.23v. The problem is the crappy miller charger doesn’t stop there so if you don’t check it often, it will just continue to charge forever.

[will34]

@cajampa

@zoom zoom

I wish it would overcharge them so I could get 4.23-4.25 like the cheap ones do. somebody else might care about manufacturers specs but to me in everything I do they’re more like guidelines saying don’t overdo it too much more. They always recommend the maximum safe working load limit, but really you can go above and beyond what they recommend 99% of the time.

+1

The only thing that happen, as far as i know is you lose half the rated cycles.

I like to charge my batteries to 4.25v sometimes, it makes them SO much stronger the first 10 or so seconds in a DD build.

I just wish i could find a charger that would do it reliably & a bit quicker, now i use a bugged miller v7 to do it, but it takes 6 hours to get from 4.20 to 4.25v.
This charger charges at 20mA from 4.20 to 4.25v, and the battery usually rest at 4.23v. The problem is the crappy miller charger doesn’t stop there so if you don’t check it often, it will just continue to charge forever.

Out of all of my chargers the only one to give me a battery fully charged exactly at 4.20V is the miller 102 V7.1, many times I’ve left an unprotected battery charge overnight by accident but it does not go past 4.21V. Both of my V7.1 sends tricke charge at 4.215V. I stopped using them when a old NCR-A got really hot towards the end of the charge, and the led was red still.

If your cells are not in their optimal health it is dangerous to push them to 4.2V. My older batteries terminate at ~4.15V in my VP2, I have no problem with that.

[cajampa]

Yes of course it is dangerous to charge a cell to 4.25v if they are not of optimal health, BUT i would say the same thing about charging a bad cell to 4.20v also.

And i don’t use bad cells, only high quality IMR or INR’s, from good quality manufacturers like Samsung, LG & Panasonic, otherwise you are just asking for trouble if you want to push the envelope

[tatasal]

If one would be so OC with charge voltages, l suggest he gets an iCharger like mine.

You could program the terminal voltage from 4.00v to 4.30v in .01v increments, iirc.

[cajampa]

Yeah that do sounds like a good idea, but they are expensive though.

What is the termination current on the iCharger? Because as HKJ’s testing showed, if it is to high, the voltage will just drop a lot as soon as it has stopped charging.